Chapter Summaries

Dong Qi woke from a nightmare as she awaited the Red Whale Gang’s envoys, while Lu Sheng traveled to Clear Tea Town to answer the Tea Gang’s request for aid. The story left Lu Sheng and Xu Chui being escorted toward the Tea Gang headquarters.

• Ling Ling searched the empty Rice Straw Field for the children who had tricked her, then uncovered a pale-faced child in a haystack before Dong Qi jolted awake from the nightmare.
• Cui Ping reassured Dong Qi and told her the Red Whale Gang envoys should arrive soon.
• Lu Sheng tried to cultivate the Treasure Bottle Qi but found his internal qi saturated, and he considered compressing it into a denser form.
• Lu Sheng and Xu Chui reached the desolate Clear Tea Town and set out for Saint Tea Workshop, the Tea Gang headquarters.
• A man sent by Dong Qi approached Lu Sheng and Xu Chui and offered to guide them.

Lu Sheng and Xu Chui investigated the Tea Gang’s strange deaths and learned that Dong Qi’s father had worshipped a Glass Mirror with the apothecary Zhuo Qingyang before dying. Lu Sheng went to confront Zhuo Qingyang, but the apothecary was absent, leaving Lu Sheng waiting outside his locked room.

• Lu Sheng and Xu Chui met Dong Qi at the Saint Tea Workshop, where she described a Glass Mirror her father and Zhuo Qingyang had worshipped in secret.
• Dong Qi said her father later died mutilated, her uncle and father’s younger brother disappeared, and gang members visited Zhuo Qingyang’s room at night.
• Lu Sheng noticed the workshop’s exhausted residents, gloomy courtyards, and cold darkness as Dong Qi led him to Zhuo Qingyang’s secluded quarters.
• Lu Sheng examined a strange doll hanging beneath the eaves, then knocked repeatedly on Zhuo Qingyang’s bedroom door without receiving an answer.
• Lu Sheng decided to wait for Zhuo Qingyang to return so he could hear the apothecary’s account before drawing conclusions.

Lu Sheng investigated the strange Glass Mirror at Zhuo Qingyang’s home and found three Tang Script characters on its back that read “count to ten.” Dong Qi connected the words to a recurring nightmare about a girl named Ling Ling, and Lu Sheng returned to the mirror to investigate further.

• Dong Qi, Lu Sheng, and Xu Chui met Zhuo Qingyang after several exhausted Tea Gang members came looking for the apothecary.
• Lu Sheng examined the Glass Mirror and found three carved characters on its back, while Zhuo Qingyang claimed he did not know their meaning.
• Lu Sheng questioned Zhuo Qingyang about the disappearances and Dong Shengping’s death, but Zhuo Qingyang denied knowing anything and accepted the prospect of arrest.
• Xu Chui used the Song Zheng Dictionary to identify the characters as “count to ten,” and Dong Qi described her nightmare about Ling Ling playing that game in a Rice Straw Field.
• Lu Sheng led Dong Qi and Xu Chui back to the guarded study to examine the mirror again.

Lu Sheng and Xu Chui examined the Glass Mirror’s childlike scratches with Dong Qi, then spent the night at Saint Tea Workshop. After a ghostly girl appeared at their windows and attacked Dong Qi, Lu Sheng pursued it to the mirror and destroyed it.

• Lu Sheng compared the mirror’s crooked scratches with the standard characters and wondered how a child could have carved them so deeply.
• Lu Sheng told Dong Qi to report any unusual activity, then fell asleep despite usually keeping watch through meditation.
• A little girl’s shadow appeared outside Lu Sheng’s window, and he pulled back the curtains to find no one there.
• Dong Qi woke to a ghostly girl counting beside her bed and saw the girl’s shadow jump outside her window before it entered her room.
• Lu Sheng burst into Dong Qi’s room, drove the ghost toward the study, and found it inside the Glass Mirror.
• Lu Sheng smashed the mirror, blasted the ghost out, and struck it until it vanished.

Lu Sheng entered a Rice Straw Field through the shattered mirror and fought the ghost of a little girl. After defeating her, he encountered the Mad Woman and heard the voices that had manipulated the girl; a massive burst of red light then engulfed the field in flames.

• Lu Sheng found Yin Qi on the doll and noticed that the dog pattern had vanished from the mirror stand.
• Lu Sheng stepped outside the study and found himself alone in a Rice Straw Field, where children’s voices revealed how they had abandoned a little girl.
• Lu Sheng fought the little girl’s ghost, smashed her head, and severed her legs with a thrown saber.
• Lu Sheng picked up a piece of the ghost’s clothing and saw the Mad Woman standing in the field as villagers’ accusations echoed around him.
• A deep voice told the little girl that her mother was dead and urged her to enter the mirror, then red light erupted around Lu Sheng and set the straw piles ablaze.

Lu Sheng destroyed the ghost haunting the Saint Tea Workshop and discovered that Zhuo Qingyang and nearly everyone there had died. After identifying the mirror as the cause, he accepted Dong Qi’s payment and prepared to leave for another haunting while considering how yin energy might help his cultivation.

• Lu Sheng burned the madwoman to ash, and the Rice Straw Field reverted to the Saint Tea Workshop courtyard.
• Lu Sheng and Xu Chui found Zhuo Qingyang dead, then discovered that nearly everyone at the Saint Tea Workshop had also died.
• Lu Sheng examined Dong Shengping’s corpse and concluded that Ling Ling had ambushed the gang leader while the mirror drained the life force of the other gang members.
• Lu Sheng identified the mirror as the source of the deaths and ordered Xu Chui to prepare for their next request for aid.
• Lu Sheng considered using yin energy to improve his inner arts and resolve his cultivation problems, then accepted a hundred-tael gold note from Dong Qi.

Lu Sheng absorbed Yin Qi from the Demon Mirror’s remains and prepared to cultivate, while Xiao Hongye met the Chief Priest in Yan Mountain City and surrendered control of the preparations for the Law Sacrifice. The Chief Priest ordered an investigation into the missing hunting dog and Li Shunxi’s trail.

• Lu Sheng questioned Dong Qi about the Tea Gang’s hardships, then departed after their carriage was repaired.
• Lu Sheng used his blood to draw Yin Qi from the doll, cloth scrap, and mirror stand, unlocking the Red Zenith Nine Fiends Skill’s modification option.
• Lu Sheng chose to cultivate Treasure Bottle Qi before balancing Yin and Yang and addressing his internal qi liquefaction.
• Xiao Hongye visited the Chief Priest with a five-hundred-year-old Wild Red Lingzhi and reported that the Red Whale Gang and Old Taoist Bai Feng could assist with the Law Sacrifice.
• The Chief Priest took charge of the preparations and ordered Xiao Hongye to have the Red Whale Gang investigate the missing hunting dog and Li Shunxi’s whereabouts.
• Bai Jing praised Xiao Hongye for yielding authority, and the Chief Priest accepted the gift as Xiao Hongye departed.

Bai Jing linked the missing wild dogs to the Red Whale Gang, while Lu Sheng returned to Yan Mountain City and prepared for Carefree Manor’s living sacrifice. Li Shunxi sought Lu Sheng’s help buying grain for hidden allies and offered rare martial arts manuals in exchange, leaving Lu Sheng set to trade five thousand jin of grain for the Thousand Trees Burning Heart Palm.

• Bai Jing told the Chief Priest that the missing wild dogs had followed Li Shunxi into the Red Whale Gang’s Woad Restaurant, and the Chief Priest ordered her to investigate and seize evidence.
• Lu Sheng returned to Yan Mountain City, prepared offerings for Carefree Manor’s living sacrifice, and continued cultivating the Treasure Bottle Qi.
• Li Shunxi visited Lu Sheng with the veiled Qing Mei and asked to buy at least two thousand jin of grain for his mountain-dwelling friends.
• Lu Sheng learned that Li Shunxi’s hidden allies could exchange Spirit Intent cultivation methods for grain and examined their catalogue.
• Lu Sheng chose the Thousand Trees Burning Heart Palm and agreed to trade five thousand jin of grain for it.

Lu Sheng dismissed Hong Mingzi and Wang Yuanshan’s belief that he was descended from an aristocratic family and argued with them over how to recruit disciples for the Red Sun Sect. After Duan Meng'an was killed while delivering a message to Xiao Estate, Lu Sheng rode to the estate and confronted the one-eyed old man guarding its gate.

• Hong Mingzi and Wang Yuanshan questioned Lu Sheng about his ancestry, then asked how the Red Sun Sect could expand its disciples.
• Lu Sheng proposed revealing basic mental arts to identify talented recruits, but Hong Mingzi refused to let the sect’s techniques be opened up.
• Lu Sheng collected medicine, arranged preparations for the Law Sacrifice, and returned to cultivate Treasure Bottle Qi.
• A gang member reported that Duan Meng'an had died after entering Xiao Estate to deliver a message.
• Lu Sheng gathered his Elders and guards, surrounded Xiao Estate, and challenged the one-eyed old man at its gate to a fight.

Lu Sheng confronted Carefree Manor’s Chief Priest, who admitted to killing and eating Duan Meng'an, then withdrew rather than risk a fight against the powerful elder. After learning Carefree Manor planned to ambush him and Li Shunxi, Lu Sheng entered seclusion aboard the Red Whale Ship and began deducing the Red Zenith Nine Fiends Skill, enduring a dangerous transformation.

• Lu Sheng entered Xiao Estate and faced the Chief Priest, who revealed that he had killed Duan Meng'an and served his flesh as food.
• Lu Sheng kept his anger in check, left the estate, and ordered his men and the city guards to withdraw.
• After Lu Sheng departed, Bai Jing remained uncertain of his identity, while Envoy Quan reported that Lu Sheng would meet Li Shunxi at Windless Valley in five days, with the Martial Alliance involved.
• Lu Sheng returned to his gang, concealed the circumstances of Duan Meng'an's death, and ordered Jade Lotus Seed to manage affairs while he entered seclusion.
• Lu Sheng sealed himself inside the Red Whale Ship’s Quiet Room and used Deep Blue to deduce the Red Zenith Nine Fiends Skill, triggering intense pain and a violent bodily transformation.

Lu Sheng advanced the Red Zenith Nine Fiends Skill to its ninth level and discovered that detonating his liquefied inner qi greatly increased his strength. Meanwhile, Qin Wumian discussed a grain-for-martial-arts trade with Lu Sheng and asked Li Shunxi about a mysterious senior in the Red Whale Gang, who had given him a bamboo tube.

• Lu Sheng condensed his inner qi into three pale-red droplets and reached the ninth level of the Red Zenith Nine Fiends Skill.
• Lu Sheng detonated one droplet, transformed into a powerful, armored form, and concluded that the ability could serve as a trump card despite its limited duration.
• Lu Sheng returned to normal and planned to test detonating all three droplets at once.
• Qin Wumian learned from Li Shunxi that Lu Sheng had agreed to trade grain for Spirit Intent-level martial arts.
• Li Shunxi described Lu Sheng as self-willed and unlikely to join the Martial Alliance, and Qin Wumian asked whether he had met the alliance's senior in the Red Whale Gang.
• Li Shunxi handed Qin Wumian the bamboo tube the senior had given him and told him to open it after his return.

Qin Wumian arranged a grain transaction with Lu Sheng and sent Guan Nian, Zhong Yunxiu, and Zhang Wuya to escort it. As the convoy departed, Lu Sheng considered how to acquire stronger hard martial arts to support his cultivation.

• Qin Wumian read a secret message, destroyed it, and summoned Zhang Wuya for a discussion.
• Zhang Wuya prepared to escort the transaction, while Guan Nian dismissed his hopes that martial artists could rival noble families.
• Zhang Wuya told Guan Nian that the trader was Lu Sheng, the Red Sun Sect Master and a promising pure martial artist.
• Lu Sheng assembled a convoy carrying five thousand jin of concealed grain and planned to use the trade to seek new martial arts.
• Lu Sheng ordered the convoy to set out at night.

Lu Sheng met Li Shunxi’s group to exchange grain for martial arts, but the transaction was ambushed by Carefree Manor envoys. Lu Sheng revealed his transformed strength and killed one envoy, while Zhang Wuya recognized his power as the culmination of hard arts.

• Lu Sheng and his convoy met Li Shunxi’s party, exchanged grain carts for a metal box, and began discussing an additional Spirit Intent-level martial art Zhang Wuya offered.
• Three red signals flared, Zhang Peng killed a companion and escaped, and Bai Jing, Quan Huan, and two other Carefree Manor envoys surrounded the Martial Alliance group.
• Lu Sheng accused Li Shunxi’s side of leaking the transaction and declared the intruders could not be allowed to live.
• Lu Sheng transformed using Crimson Extremity Nine Annihilations: Divine Might and killed the bronze-skinned envoy with his twin blades.
• Guan Nian mistook Lu Sheng for a Great Demon, while Zhang Wuya recognized his transformation as hard arts fused and brought to great completion.

Lu Sheng annihilated four Carefree Manor Territory Envoys who had attacked him and Li Shunxi’s group, revealing the overwhelming strength of his Yang Extremity State. After the grain trade was completed, he and the others agreed to keep the encounter secret and departed separately.

• Lu Sheng killed Quan Huan and another envoy with his twin blades, then crushed Bai Jing after she transformed into a bird and tried to escape.
• Lu Sheng stomped Quan Huan flat and burned the last envoy, who had disguised herself as a puddle of pus, into ash.
• Lu Sheng explained that the envoys had come for him too, accepted Zhang Wuya’s manuals, and completed the grain handover with the others.
• Lu Sheng asked Li Shunxi and Guan Nian’s group to keep the attack confidential, then left with his people for the Red Whale Ship.
• Li Shunxi reflected on the envoys’ powers of recovery and the black membrane that protected their cores.

Lu Sheng caught Zhang Peng, learned about Carefree Manor’s spies and Divine Weapon Shards, then attacked him when his information ran out. The Chief Priest confronted Lu Sheng and struck first, but Lu Sheng emerged from the earth dragon’s attack ready to fight.

• Guan Nian and the others agreed to keep Lu Sheng’s power secret and report Zhang Peng’s betrayal to the Alliance Master.
• Lu Sheng and Elder Chen tracked down Zhang Peng, who revealed several Carefree Manor spies within the Martial Alliance and a promised Divine Weapon Shard.
• After Zhang Peng said he knew nothing more, Lu Sheng struck him down and demanded that he think of more information.
• The Chief Priest arrived, accused Lu Sheng of sabotaging the encirclement, and attacked him with Coiled Dragon - Secret Nine.
• Lu Sheng emerged in his Yang Extremity State, caught the Chief Priest’s staff, and challenged him to fight.

Lu Sheng fought the Chief Priest of Carefree Manor, revealed his monstrous transformation, and killed him and Zhang Peng. He returned to the Red Whale Ship with a strange copper fragment, then collapsed from exhaustion and his injuries.

• The Chief Priest bombarded Lu Sheng with explosive attacks, but Lu Sheng counterattacked and the two exchanged devastating blows.
• Lu Sheng unleashed his full strength and transformed into a five-meter monster, revealing that he had never possessed a black membrane.
• Lu Sheng crushed the Chief Priest into the ground and burned him alive despite the Chief Priest’s threat that the Manor Lord would seek revenge.
• Lu Sheng killed the helpless Zhang Peng and collected a dark yellow copper fragment left behind with the Refined Copper Staff.
• Lu Sheng returned to the Red Whale Ship, entered the Quiet Room, and collapsed from exhaustion and pain.

After killing the Chief Priest, Lu Sheng struggled with severe injuries and Red Phosphorus zombie poison. He obtained a large amount of Yin Qi from a metal fragment and prepared to enhance the Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill, leaving his recovery still to come.

• Lu Sheng woke alone in his soundproof chamber, treated his wounds, and swallowed several antidotes after finding white fur growing from his injuries.
• After half a day of recovery, Lu Sheng refused an invitation to the Xiao Estate and learned that most of the External Affairs Envoys had not returned.
• Lu Sheng visited Xuanwu Pavilion, where the Pavilion Elder identified Red Phosphorus zombie poison and prescribed Nine-Fragrance Lotus Heart baths and Inflammation Dissolving Powder.
• Lu Sheng bathed in Nine-Fragrance Lotus Heart, then drew at least fifty units of Yin Qi from the metal he had taken from the Chief Priest.
• Lu Sheng summoned Deep Blue to improve the Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill and noticed that it had reached only four levels.

Lu Sheng used the Modifier to advance his healing skill into Yin-Yang Jade Crane Treasure Bottle Qi, which began expelling poison and easing his injuries. Meanwhile, Xiao Hongye and Bai Feng learned that the Territory Envoys had perished and Chief Priest was probably dead, and they turned their attention to questioning Lu Sheng.

• Lu Sheng recognized that his injuries and poison resistance were weak because he had neglected to develop the Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill alongside his pursuit of power.
• Old Hei returned with bloody remains and reported that the four Territory Envoys had perished and Chief Priest was missing, then accused Xiao Hongye of betraying his master before leaving to seek revenge.
• Xiao Hongye identified the remains as belonging to Bai Jing and territory envoy Quan Huan, and a Surveillance Division dispatch revealed that Lu Sheng had been injured at Windless Valley.
• Lu Sheng enhanced the Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill to its fifth and sixth layers, combining it with Treasure Bottle Qi and naming the result Yin-Yang Jade Crane Treasure Bottle Qi.
• Lu Sheng advanced the new skill to its seventh layer, doubling his internal Qi and reducing both the Red Phosphorus Fire Poison and the heat left by the Yang Extremity State.
• Lu Sheng decided to focus on recovering, while Xiao Hongye and Bai Feng prepared to question him about what happened at Windless Valley.

Lu Sheng continued recovering from his wounds while presiding over the Red Whale Gang's grand competition, where Su Yue'er asked him to take her as a disciple. Before he could answer, Old Hei stormed into Swallow Hall demanding to know what had happened to his master, leaving Lu Sheng to conceal his weakness and agree to speak elsewhere.

• Lu Sheng recovered enough to leave seclusion, though his injuries and depleted inner qi still left him far weaker than usual.
• During the Red Whale Gang's triennial competition, Lu Sheng assigned Shangguan Rong to lead Changing Star City and offered Su Yue'er a deputy branch leader position in Knot Dragon City.
• Su Yue'er refused the transfer and knelt, asking Lu Sheng to take her as his disciple.
• Old Hei burst into Swallow Hall, overwhelmed the gang members who confronted him, and demanded that Lu Sheng explain his master's disappearance after the events at East Mountain Foot.
• Lu Sheng denied knowing what happened and, hiding his weakened state, persuaded Old Hei to discuss the matter somewhere else.

Lu Sheng concealed his involvement in the battle that had preceded Chief Priest Bai’s disappearance, but Old Hei saw through his story and attacked him. Shangyang Jiuli killed Old Hei, dismissed a warning from her uncle, and took the small cauldron Lu Sheng had recovered from the battlefield.

• Lu Sheng told Old Hei he had heard a crash in the forest but had not witnessed the battle or seen any strange creatures.
• Old Hei suddenly accused Lu Sheng of lying and lunged at him with a lethal attack.
• Shangyang Jiuli appeared, stopped Old Hei, and killed him by making his body burst into black feathers that she destroyed.
• Shangyang Jiuli questioned Lu Sheng about his letter, and he insisted that his account was true.
• Shangyang Jiuli struck her uncle for challenging her decisions and threatened anyone from Carefree Manor who came after her.
• Lu Sheng gave Shangyang Jiuli the tiny black cauldron he had found at the battlefield, and she praised him and claimed Carefree Manor would not dare retaliate.